Why is it that, while America is a perfect breeding ground, glorious bands like the Shazam always seem to find their true cult followings in Europe, where they are loved, worshiped and adored? Cotton Mather opens for Oasis in Paris, but plays to 40 folks in Austin. Meanwhile, the Shazam…
Both of these acts belong in a rock ‘n’ roll museum — Bono’s fly specs and Liam Gallagher’s eyebrow, preserved in amber behind Plexiglas (most of Oasis’ riffs are already sealed and on display, under the Beatles exhibit). They belong to another era, a time when it was possible to…
Named after the nautical pleasurecraft of Emilio Largo, Bond supervillain in Thunderball, Disco Volante sounds more like the kind of music Miss Moneypenny might be tempted to blast in the office when M wasn’t around. On the surface, it’s worldly wise pop; the opening track, “146 Degrees,” takes “The Theme…
The template quality of the Pistoleros’ story thus far resembles the first half of nearly any episode of the increasingly irritating Behind the Music specials seen on VH1. Band forms and pays dues playing myriad local gigs. A loyal following blossoms. A founding member quits and later commits suicide. Band…
Based on his reputation, you’d think you’re at the wrong place. The old wood-frame house in the heart of the Tempe ‘hood has the feminine air of a homemaker, not that of a rock ‘n’ roll hellion. But sure enough, sitting in the living room on a large white leather…
Everyone might be entitled to 15 minutes of fame, but most people don’t have any say about when that window opens. If, as in the case of Bratmobile, fate calls on three college students, two of whom are based on the West Coast while the other is attending classes in…
No one likes to be seen as the roadblock to a revolution. The unfortunate soul — or the dumb bastard — who chooses to impede progress is likely to be mowed down by those charging toward tomorrow. He will become a thing to be wiped off the shoes of those…
We who labor under the auspices of the music desk at this here urban newsweekly have only your best interests at heart, and may God or Lilith or Zoaraster whap us with a bolt of lightning in the spleen if this isn’t the strict, unvarnished truth. We humbly consider ourselves…
Dwight Yoakam confounds me. Here’s a guy who, with very little variation, has recorded and performed the same letter-perfect honky-tonk music for well more than a decade. Fiddle, steel, keyboards, bass, electric guitar and drums, all lined up behind Yoakam with OCD-like precision, a formula that worked for Hank, Lefty,…
Sandwiched between his brassy recordings for Blue Note and his breathtaking work for Riverside, Thelonious Monk did a two-year stint with Prestige. Occasionally forgotten, sometimes overlooked, often dismissed, Monk’s work as a sideman for the label and the three albums he recorded under his own name there have always gotten…
This book . . . she’s so hea-veeeeee! Numerous sittings with this coffee-table tome have resulted in either my arms becoming numb, my chest getting pins and needles or my lap falling asleep. Sure, I’m getting old — we all are. And no one’s getting older than the surviving Beatles…
With the rising popularity of DVD, a format that allows recordings to be heard in 5.1 surround sound and offers features such as separate audio tracks and alternate viewing angles, it was just a matter of time before a musical act did something that used DVD’s full potential. Beastie Boys…
In a world where Metallica headlines radio festivals, it’s hard to believe there was once a time when the Pixies battled for airplay and bands like Depeche Mode and Echo and the Bunnymen ruled the alternative scene. These days anger is a gift, and the sweeping, introspective siren songs of…
Just as with the physical universe, experts these days can’t seem to agree about whether the hip-hop universe is shrinking or expanding. On the one hand, the music and the culture itself appears to be splintering into an infinite number of subgenre atoms that drift farther away from each other…
For every mountain I climb For every river that winds For every wind that will blow I will send out my prayers For the children below. — Bill Miller, “Every Mountain I Climb” These days, it’s hard enough for parents to generate enough moral and ethical background noise to partially…
As two-thirds of the critically hailed, commercially failed Galaxie 500 in the late ’80s, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Wang knew the frustration of having a unique and respected band and helplessly watching it dissipate. Reassembling briefly in 1991 as Pierre Etoile (sans Galaxie 500’s Dean Wareham, who went on to…
Kay (pronounced kai, like sky) — who, like the other members of mostly punk outfit Sunshine, prefers to go by his first name — keeps apologizing for his English. “I’m sorry, it’s very difficult to speak on the phone with me,” he says for the third time. “Many people tell…
Dee Dee Ramone is lucky as all hell to be alive. The rickety timbre of his voice over the telephone bespeaks a man who has repeatedly cheated death. His is a sort of Bronx junkie mumble crossed with the confounded drawl of Tennessee Tuxedo’s Chumley, a disquieting mix of stubborn…
Rock ‘n’ roll is 45 years old. That’s older than most A&R guys. That’s older than the parents who are dropping off their 13-year-olds at the Blink 182 concert. There is nothing new left to do in rock ‘n’ roll. There just isn’t. Those still flogging the expired animal have…
It doesn’t matter what number Wallflowers album this is. You fickle kids can’t keep a band on the pop charts longer than you can resist popping a zit — it seems every follow-up to a debut success is doomed to suffer the dreaded sophomore jinx. And that goes for you…
You know that commercial for the really skinny television? The one that fades out with Gomez’s cover of the Beatles’ “Getting Better”? Did you know those guys were only 11 years old? No. But really, it’s pretty bloody amazing. They’re not terribly old, neither individually nor as a band, but…
Now that Radiohead’s Kid A has topped the pops, it’s tempting to proclaim the long musical drought at an end; for one moment, at least, art rock has mounted the charge and proudly planted its flag, right into (Milli Va)Nelly’s ski vest. Never mind that Kid A is only half…
